Small craft mooring and dockage facility



Oct. 30, 1962 R. E. WOOD 3,060,384

SMALL CRAFT MOORING AND DOCKAGE FACILITY Filed Nov. 20, 1961 FIG. I

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FIG. 2

R. E. WOOD Unite tates This invention relates to a boat mooring facility entitled Small Craft Mooring and Dockage Facility.

The object of the invention is to provide a co-ordinated assemblage which will satisfy five basic requirements for a boat mooring and dockage facility in a location subject to fluctuating water levels and to wind and swell conditions. Safe and easy access from shore to and from a boat at any water level is provided through arrangement of shore platform, float and connecting gangway. Safe mooring for a boat which will be automatically elfective at any water level and under all conditions of wind and swell is provided through connections with bow and stern mooring lines maintained under constant tension through being fixed on shore side and end-weighted through pulleys on off-shore side. For transfers between boat and float the boat is held clear of float through tension supplied by end Weights on off-shore mooring lines and in desired proximity by adjustable bow and stern lines thus promoting safety for personnel and avoidance of dam age to facility or boat. Ease and safety in mooring and unmooring even under adverse conditions is provided through the unusual arrangement of securing bow and stern of boat to their mooring lines while boat completely clear of any structure. Avoidance of wear and tear on facility by harmless dissipation of energy transmitted by wind and wave action is provided by arrangement of fixed and end-weighted mooring lines for boat and float and by complete separation between shore structure and those parts which can be materially affected by wind, water or similar pressures.

The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which- FIG. 1 is a plan view of the facility with a boat secured thereto.

FIG. 2 is an elevation view of the facility without the boat.

Referring to the drawings 11 indicates a waterfront bulkhead to which is firmly attached a fixed platform 12 located about one foot above normal high tide and extending about four feet beyond the bulkhead with steps leading thereto from the top of the bulkhead.

A pair of pilings 13 and 14 about three feet apart with axes perpendicular to the bulkhead line is located about six inches from, and parallel to, the edge of the fixed platform 12. Connecting the two pilings is a heavy rod 15 which supports and around which pivots one end of a gangway 16. This separation between pilings and platform is small enough so that a person can step from the fixed pltaform to the top of the gangway yet large enough so that surge of pilings due to water swells and other pressures will not be transmitted to any part of the fixed platform or bulkhead.

A davit 17 attached to the bulkhead makes provision for manually or by counterweight raising the lower end of the gangway so that only when in actual use need the gangway be subjected to contact with the float.

A landing float 18 is secured to pilings 13 and 14 by fixed mooring lines 19 and to pilings 20 and 21 with endweighted 22 mooring lines 23 passing through pulleys 24 attached to pilings 20 and 21 thus providing constant tension regardless of water level. To provide a springing effect to ease mooring line strain when float pitches and tosses there may be suspended a submerged tempering weight 25 to lines 19 at the point of intersection. This I atent 3,060,884 Patented Oct. 30, 1962 weight may have a flat or concave surface in the horizontal plane to make effective use of water inertia in retar-ding the velocity of weight motion.

Ofl-shore mooring pilings 26 and 27 are located approximately as shown to complete the facilities for actual mooring of boat.

A line 28 secured near the top of piling 14 crosses to piling 26 where it passes through pulley 29 attached to piling 26 and thence to an attached weight 30. At a suitable location on line 28 a loop arrangement 31 is provided for securing to the bow of the boat. The stern of the boat is secured through a fixed mooring line 32 attached to piling 21 plus an end-weighted 33 line 34 passing through a pulley 35 secured to piling 27. When unmooring, lines 32 and 34 are hooked together giving a continuous line efiect similar to line 28 when no boat moored. Tempering weights, if installed for fixed mooring lines, will be suspended from bow mooring line 28 near piling 14 and from stern mooring line 32 near piling 21. Tempering weight 25 suspension is illustrated in FIG. 2.

One end of a secondary mooring line 36 is secured to the boat end of line 32 and the other end to cleat 37 on the float. This line is used to pull boat and float together from either boat or float for loading or unloading.

End-weighted mooring line pulley attachment rigs 24, 29 and 35 are of a standard commercial type consisting of a screw-eye into piling with shackle connection between eye and pulley. An illustration of the arrangement of these rigs with weights is shown at 22 and 24 in FIG. 2.

The recommended mooring and unmooring process would be as follows:

Mo0ring.Boat brought within boat hook distance of how mooring line 28. Bow hooked on to loop 31. Boat backed to boat hook distance of connected stern lines 32 and 34 which are grasped by hand, then separated and each secured to appropriate stern cleats on boat. Boa-t pulled by hand to proximity of float and secured to float first by secondary stern line 36 then by bow line 28. After unloading and internal securing of boat the bow line 28 and the stern line 36 are slacked to let the weights 30 and 33 move the boat to its normal moored position.

Unmooring.0perator pulls bow of boat to proximity of float with line 28 and temporarily secures this line to piling 14. Gangway lowered to float either manually or by foot pressure. Stern of boat pulled to float and secured to cleat 37 with line 36. After loading of boat, operator slacks line 28 then boards boat and slacks line 36 to permit boat to move to normal moored position. After engine warm-up and other preliminaries stern lines 32 and 34 are released from stem cleats and snapped together. Bow line loop 31 is kept secured until operator, through judicious use of propeller and rudder and of pivot action against bow mooring line 28, brings stern clear for backing out between pilings 26 and 27. Bow line loop 31 released and boat backed out.

I claim:

A mooring and dockage facility comprising a pair of pilings, a gangway the upper end of which is supported and provided with a horizontal pivot carried by said pair of pilings, a float, to which gangway leads, one end of which is secured in place by two mooring lines of fixed length connected to said pair of pilings, a second pair of pilings holding in place the other end of the float by means of end-weighted mooring lines passing through pulleys attached to said pair of pilings, an outer fifth piling, a bow mooring line, with securing loop at midpoint, attached at the inner end to the outer gangway support piling and at the outer end to a weight passing through a pulley attached to said fifth piling, an outer sixth piling to which is secured a pulley through which an end-weighted line passes and serves as one stern line, a

3 4 second stern line of fixed length secured to the outer of platform, a davit attached to short structure and provided the second pair of float mooring pilings, means for secur- With counterweight for hoisting gangway When not in ing the ends of the two stern lines together to form a con- 115etinuous line similar to the bow mooring line, a supplement l; Stem mooring line see d 1; om end to the boat 5 References Cited 1n the file of this patent end of the second stern line and secured at the other end UNITED A ES NT to a cleat on the float, a short supported platform extend- 172,830 Stewart et all Feb; 1, 1876 s; cl seen h to e pp di the g n y d its 1,060,993 a na w o May 6 1913 uppo ing pi ings, o, p mi a pe son, to s p. between 1,944,159 Bailey r Jan. 23 1934 platform and gangway but far enough apart sothat; any 10 2,411,382 Martin Nov. 19, 1946 movement of gangway or pilingswill not be transmitted to 2,686,491 Ohmstede Aug. 17 1954 

